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Fred Whaite - Composer, librettist, music director, musician. The son of Harry Whaite, one of Australia's leading scenic artists during the late 1890s and early twentieth century, Fred Whaite established himself in the Australian variety industry as a music director and composer. He studied piano as a youth under Henri Kowalski and gained his orchestral training with Gustave Slapoffski. Showing an early liking for operatic composition, he was encouraged and assisted by J. C. Williamson's music director Andrew MacCunn and Thomas A. Ricketts. Two of his earliest compositions to be published were 'The Coronation: Grand Galop de Concert' (1907) and 'Golden Wattle Schottische' (ca. 1909). Between 1906 and 1909 Whaite was largely associated with the British Pianoforte Depot in Sydney, being engaged as the society's pianist for its series of regular Apollo recitals. Although much of Whaite's career during the remainder of the 1920s is still to be determined, it is believed that he remained with the Fullers until 1929, at which time he joined the ABC as a music arranger and performer. Between 1930 and 1934, for example, he regularly appeared as a novelty pianist on Sydney stations 2FC and 2BL, with these often being relayed around the country on the ABC network. The 1930s also write and direct the music for a number of radio dramas - notably The Tin Soldier (1931, musical comedy) and Waratah (1931, pantomime) - as well as leading his own radio vaudeville company and orchestra. In addition to this, he collaborated (as composer) on the Clipper and Brown comedy detective radio series with author John 'Jock' Macleod. Fred Whaite remained with the ABC until his retirement in 1962. He died in 1964. Known to have written countless songs throughout his career, at least twenty-five songs are known to have been published, including 'Rose of My Dreams' (1924), 'My Wollondilly Home' (1925, with John Moore), 'Into the Barrel' (1940, which he dedicated to the Red Cross), 'In-doo-roo-pilly' (1940, with Billy Maloney), 'I'm Cutting up the Rainbow' (ca. 1947), and 'The Little Green Wood' (1953, with John Wheeler). Whaite also reportedly wrote two radio plays in collaboration with S. D. Douglas - Kabula Love Song and Moon. Source: www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A112240

Bohemia Theatre and Stadium This opened in March 1923 as a live theatre venue with a performance of ‘Mr. Rawdon Blandford’s ‘Classics of 1923’’. By the end of the decade, the theatre was struggling in the face of the thriving cinema industry, and during the 1930s the lease was held by Greater Brisbane Amusement, whose policy was not to compete with the neighboring Cremorne Theatre. The Bohemia was then predominantly used as a wrestling and boxing venue known as ‘Bohemia Stadium’. The last bouts appear to have taken place there in April 1940. In 1947 it was taken over by the Brisbane City Council and leased out for use as a depot and store before being demolished in 1954 to make way for a car park fronting Stanley and Grey streets. Source: mappingbrisbanehistory.com.au/history-location/bohemia-th...

Comedian, writer, songwriter, producer/director, troupe proprietor. Often billed as 'the man in red' during his early career and as 'the man with the silver stick, from 1921, Billy Maloney was a juvenile actor with William Anderson’s Pantomime Company before turning to vaudeville as a comedian in 1913. He appeared frequently on the Tivoli circuit and spent 1920-22 in Brisbane with John N. McCallum's Town Topics (revived by Maloney and Elton Black, 1923-24). He later toured Billy Maloney’s Scandals and was associated with Frank Neil, Joe Lawman, George Wallace, and Graham Mitchell among others. Maloney moved to the UK in 1939, appearing on television, producing revues, and later running a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Some of his work: "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe" Billy Maloney, Fred Whaite (composer), John N. McCallum, Town Topics, 1921 musical theatre pantomime fantasy "Too Thin Chow" Billy Maloney, John N. McCallum, Town Topics, 1921 musical theatre burlesque humor Source: www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A108146

When Billy Maloney appeared at a state banquet for the Prince of Wales in Sydney in 1920 the prince presented him with a silver stick. From then Maloney was billed as "the man with a silver stick". He appeared frequently on the Tivoli Circuit and he was especially popular in the Cremorne Theatre in Brisbane in the early 1920s. In association with Lou Handman, a visiting American composer, he wrote the song "Smithy" in 1928 to celebrate Charles Kingsford Smith's Trans-Pacific flight. Maloney's career waned in the 1930s. He went to the United Kingdom, where he appeared on television in 1939 and toured in variety. Then he made his home in Edinburgh, where he produced small reviews. Source: ozvta.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/maloney-billy-r-notes-1...

Some interesting facts: * Maloney married Claire Lloyd Brady in Brisbane on 10 Dec. 1921 (Everyone's 28 Dec. 1921). * His pantomime The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe (1921) featured a group of children. Their popularity led to the formation of Billy Maloney's Panto Kiddies which appeared as an independent act in Brisbane in 1922 and in early 1923 undertook a tour of regional Queensland. * He appears in George Wallace's film His Royal Highness (1932). * Maloney's career was not without its downsides. In late-1927, for example, he put together a Scandals company in Melbourne to tour "smalls" of regional New South Wales for Otto Hunter. The performers were never paid, and while in Coolamon, Hunter was arrested and convicted of passing bad checks. Maloney's attempt to manage the tour himself ended in disaster in Newcastle. * Surprisingly, Maloney has been relegated to "footnote" status in Australian theatre history despite having carved out a high-profile career as a comedian, songwriter, and producer. * Historians coming to the field of Australian popular theatre from the 1970s onwards were subsequently unaware of his achievements and reputation more than forty years previous Source: ozvta.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/maloney-billy-r-notes-1...

Leila Ruth Rowland was a pianist born in the family home on Bazaar Street in Maryborough, Qld on 23rd September 1879. She was known for her Burnett Waltz for piano. Source: "A Chronological History of Australian Composers and Their Compositions 1901 ..." By Stephen Pleskun, 2021